Jordan Ireland - Spirit Walking LP

A release that criminally see fly under the radar the first time around, it’s great to see another run of Jordan Ireland’s Spirit Walking…

An album that whisks you out of the muggy present and into a dream-like lull, Spirit Walking collects a set of piano improvisations from Jordan Ireland (Blue Divers, Stolen Violin, Soda Eaves, The Purple Orchestra, ex-The Middle East). Two sides of only piano (no vocals, seemingly no overdubs, not even any room sound), these tracks wander through and explore meditative left hand drones, right-hand lyrical phrasing, and bursts of riffing.

Not sure how to properly place this one. As with the his last album and performances with the Purple Orchestra, I can’t help but think that parts of this seem to be trying to reconcile post-Alice Coltrane spiritualism and playing with some sort of UK folk tradition—what may seem like a weird combo on paper I guess, but great on record. But there’s also something here a bit more esoteric, as though these threads are also braided in with a Satie-esque meditative quality.
-Mitch